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Monday, June 8, 2009

In Thailand they say the Megga Moo shot in Perth WA is a "hoax"

The story of a giant feral pig being shot after a farmer found it gorging on one of his prize cows has been dismissed as an internet hoax by Australian authorities despite this picture. Translation option on left ตัวแปลทางซ้าย

The image of an oversized boar, supposedly killed on an outback Western Australia cattle station, has been circulated online since 2007. But Perth newspaper The Sunday Times (in June 2009) has claimed in the to have finally tracked its origins down to a farm near Newman, 745 miles northeast of Perth.

The family had kept the existence of the boar a secret, fearing illegal pig hunters would flock to the farm, the paper claimed. Photo: PERTH NOW

Despite strenuous denials from the authorities that the beast could be genuine, the paper is sticking to its story. "A source close to the family" of pastoralist John Anick - the man in the picture - told the paper Mr Anick was mustering cattle from a helicopter three years ago when he spotted the 484lb wild pig eating one of his cows.

Mr Anick supposedly saw it again on a trip to check windmills on the property and shot it, before posing for the photograph.
"I can vouch 100 per cent. I don't even have to say 90 per cent, that it (the photo) was taken in the Pilbara and it is who I said it is,'' the source said.
The family had kept the existence of the boar a secret, fearing illegal pig hunters would flock to the farm, the paper claimed.
But Nigel Higgs, a spokesman for Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, said the story was a tall tale.
"There are some pigs at De Grey River, east of Port Hedland, and some domestic pigs gone wild near Savory Creek, 200km east of Newman, but they are small and pink,'' he said.

There are estimated to be more than 23million feral pigs roaming the nation, predominantly in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
They prey on native species and destroy habitats.

LARGE feral pigs are roaming areas on the outskirts of Perth, says the local Sporting Shooters Association.

Some of the beasts are almost as big as the 220kg-plus behemoth killed on a Pilbara cattle station three years ago. The giant kill made news around the world after The Sunday Times last week reported it. We confirmed - contrary to competing Internet claims and denials from the Department of Environment and Conservation - that it was indeed killed in the Pilbara. Sporting Shooters Association Australia WA president Ron Bryant said he had seen a giant boar just 50km from the city. "Around Jarrahdale and the perimeters of Perth, large feral pigs are prevalent,'' he said. "Last year a large percentage of the feral pigs we saw were as big as that (200kg) or over 150kg at least.'' Even Todd Russell, the rescued Beaconsfield miner and keen shooter, who was trapped nearly a kilometre beneath the ground in 2006, has been over to WA to get in on the action. Pastoralists and Graziers Association spokesman Geoff Gare said it was a constant battle to keep large wild pigs under control. "I've seen wild pigs as big as that (over 200kg) in the Kimberley. They get into those river areas and stay there for years and grow to enormous sizes,'' Mr Gare said. "They get them over by Collie and in the big reserves in the Darling Range.'' Feral, introduced species such as foxes, rabbits, pigs and cats trash native ecosystems. Hunters say they can control the pests, but are being hunted themselves. "Some of the newspapers like to sensationalise it and make us look like bloodthirsty individuals, whereas

we are getting out there and getting rid of the pigs and the foxes and we are allowing some of the local wildlife to come back,'' Mr Bryant said."We run conservation programs where we do a lot of good. We are starting to see natural habitat come back where we are getting rid of all the introduced stuff.'' The Department of Environment and Conservation said two female pigs each weighing more than 180kg were trapped at Mogumber Nature Reserve, north of Gingin, in 2007.